


iMpact

by 8ucky8arnes



Series: fragMents [9]
Category: The Gifted (TV 2017)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Gen, Purifiers are Horrible, Season 2 spoilers, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-13 21:56:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16900554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/8ucky8arnes/pseuds/8ucky8arnes
Summary: “Marcos, what happened?”He pursed his lips, the silence stretching too far for her liking.Clarice ground her teeth, “Stop stalling, Marcos. Tell me what the hell happened. Where's John?”





	iMpact

Clarice was almost surprised when the hours passed and John didn’t come after her, but another part of her bitterly reminded her that he would too focused on his damn mission with Regimen to track her down. Too focused on a war. Pushing everyone away. Pushing _her_ away…

_“Oh, is this about the Morlocks…and Erg?”_

_“Well, you admitted you went behind my back. You gave him information and whatever else happened down there…”_

_“Oh, come on, you really think I’m cheating on you?”_

_“I don’t know what to think anymore.”_

She’d been more shocked than hurt at the accusation, surprised that that had even been a thought on his mind. Clarice would begrudgingly admit that they was losing ground in this fight, what with the Inner Circle stirring the pot and the Purifier’s volatile response, but not once would she ever say she’d lost faith in _him_.

“There she is!”

She spun as she heard the unmistakable sound of multiple guns cocking, already pulling open a portal and jumping through it before bullets sprayed the brick wall where her head had been and Clarice immediately ducked behind a dumpster in the next alley over.

She tried to take a second to breathe when she heard a high-pitched scream.

“Mommy! Mommy wake up!”

_A child._

“Come here you little mutie brat!”

Clarice peeked around the dumpster, zeroing in on the two gun-toting men cornering a girl no more than eight years old with lavender skin and solid magenta eyes. Her vision went red when she saw a woman crumpled on the ground in front the girl, blood pooling under her body.

The girl’s hands began to glow as she looked up in time for one of the men to raise his rifle…

Clarice jumped from behind the dumpster, “Hey, assholes!”

The two men spun around, the shorter one firing instinctively.

She was already prepared, opening a portal that redirected the bullet into his own leg. Clarice watched with almost grim satisfaction as he cried out and clutched at his bleeding leg, but as she turned make a move on the other, the girl finally lashed out.

Pink fire exploded from her hands, consuming him completely in seconds and the little girl was sobbing at the charred remains crumbled to the asphalt, face wet with tears as she turned and collapsed on her knees next to her mother.

Clarice stepped around the blackened body, bile rising at the smell of burnt flesh. She kicked away the gun from the man still whimpering on the ground, keeping a watchful eye on him as she crouched next to the girl, “Hey…”

The girl lifted a glowing hand as she stumbled back.

She held up her own, “I want to help you alright? Look at me, I’m like you.”

The child blinked before lowering her hand, “My mom, can you help my mom?”

Clarice reaches, more for show than anything, as she checked for a pulse she knew wouldn’t be there. Her chest ached at the knowledge that this girl had no one. “I’m sorry, but she’s gone. There’s nothing I can do.”

She shook her head, “No! You’re wrong! There has to be something…”

“We need to go now. I can take you somewhere safe-”

“I’m not leaving her!”

Clarice bit back a sigh, watching the girl’s fingers tighten on her mother’s shirt and was distantly award of the injured man frantically calling for backup. She reached to brush the woman’s hair out of her face, stomach rolling at the multiple bullets to the chest. Her eyes caught on the necklace, a silver ring interlaid with pink and purple gemstones hanging from a silver chain.

Unclasping it, she slipped into her pocket and stood, “Come on. We need to go…”

“But…”

“It’s them! Those two killed Ryan!”

Clarice grabbed the girl moments before the shooting started, shielding her the best she could as they dove behind a dumpster. She cried out a bullet struck her arm, her hand immediately putting pressure on the wound. _Shit._ She wouldn’t be able to portal with a hole in her arm.

They were trapped.

Bullets continued to _ping_ off metal.

Clarice turned to the girl, “Hey, look at me. Just look at me, alright?”

She turned those brilliant eyes on her.

“What’s your name? Mine’s Clarice.”

She squeezed her eyes shut for a second as shots hit the brick above them, her hands glowing faintly as they curled into her fists. Her lips quivered as they opened again and she swallowed, “Hailey. My name is Hailey.”

“Okay Hailey, here’s what we’re going to do…”

They both stiffened as the screaming started, followed by a familiar bright flare of light but Clarice didn’t dare move out into the open. She instead shielded Hailey, the girl trembling behind her.

Marcos’ face went awash with relief as he lowered his hands, “Oh, thank God it’s you.” He frowned when he saw her arm, “You alright?”

“I’ve been better.” She looked past him, “Where’s John?”

He winced at the question, but quickly saw the little girl huddled behind her, “Who’s that?”

“This is Hailey.” She motioned in the direction they’d come. “Purifiers got her mom.”

His expression shadowed, but he managed a small smile, “Come on let’s get out of here.”

Hailey slowly eased out from behind Clarice and took the offered hand, surprising the latter in how quickly she trusted the man. She looked down at her mother’s body with teary eyes, pulling away from Marcos as her hands began to glow. “I’m sorry, I-”

Marcos heated his own hand in response, his smile a little softer, “I’m a hard one to burn.”

She looked at their hands with wide eyes.

Clarice could sympathize. This was probably the first time she’d ever met someone with similar abilities to hers, the first time she realized she wasn’t alone in her mutation… She looked away, glancing at the men on the ground and the SUV parked at the end of the alley with a frown. _What? Was John avoiding her now or something?_ “Is John with you?”

Marcos cleared his throat, “We need to leave now.”

Her stomach clenched, “You’re not answering the question, Marcos.”

“I’ll answer the question when we’re somewhere safe.”

She bit back a remark, wincing as the standing sent a stab of pain up her arm and following Marcos and Hailey back to the vehicle. Clarice paused when she saw Fade sitting in the passenger seat, grabbing Hailey’s other arm, “What the hell is he doing here?”

Marcos sighed, “Clarice, just get in the car.”

“No, not until you tell me why he’s here.”

Fade met her eyes, his own glassy with pain, “Clarice…”

“ _You_ shut up!” She spun on Marcos, “Why is he here? Where’s John?”

“Clarice!” Marcos snapped, hand flaring gold for only a second, “Please, just…get in the car."

Something in his voice stopped her from responding, a weariness…a grief that she didn’t like the sound of. Something bad had happened. Something to do with John… Clarice shook her head, forcing herself not to jump to conclusions just yet before she actually got answers. Plus, this was _John_ they were talking about… “Okay, okay. Sorry.”

She slid into the car first, sitting behind Fade as they drove back to the apartments.

…

Clarice clenched her jaw as Marcos removed the bullet and disinfected the wound. “ _Jesus_ -”

“Looks like a through-and-through.” His discarded it in the trash, “I’ll need to stitch it up.”

She was barely listening to him, watching from the rickety dining room table as Hailey sat on the couch, giggling while Zingo licked her face. For a moment, she almost smiled… _almost_ before remembering the man currently handcuffed at the other hand of the table. She turned to Marcos, “So are you going to answer my question now?”

“Which one? You asked quite a few.”

She glared at Fade.

Marcos cleared his throat. “That systems analyst said he‘d found something when John…” his eyes flicked to Fade, “heard someone coming moments before Fade shot him. Killed him. John was not exactly…thrilled by that revelation.”

She very nearly snorted. “Cause he was so calm before that.”

“ _Anyways_.” Marcos sprayed her arm with a numbing spray, ignoring the glare she shot at him, “we’d just taken down Fade when we heard sirens.” He hurriedly began to stitch her up, as if sensing whatever he was going to say next was going to upset her, “We were going to go back to the scrapyard when…”

“Marcos, what happened?”

He pursed his lips, the silence stretching too far for her liking.

Clarice ground her teeth, “Stop stalling, Marcos. Tell me what the hell happened. Where's John?”

He finished wrapping up her arm, glancing at Fade before stepping back.

She jumped off the counter, “Marcos…”

“It was Purifiers.”

Ice flooded her, “No…tell me he didn’t-”

“He told us to go ahead…that he would hold them off.”

She put up a hand, trying to swallow the lump growing in her throat as the world suddenly tilted. Clarice couldn’t help but imagine what would’ve had to be done by the Purifiers to subdue John, her stomach rolling as she braced herself against the sink.

_“I’m sorry, but the last time I checked, you were freakishly strong, but you are not immortal.”_

Her vision blurred with tears, “No…”

_“I never said I was.”_

“Clarice…”

And invisible hand reached inside her chest and squeezed, tearing a choke sob from her. Her fingers tightened on the counter, the pain of the fresh stitches barely registering as she tried to breathe. “No, he isn’t…”

Marcos placed a hand gently on her back, “Clarice…”

She spun, shoving at his chest hard enough for him to stumble back. “You were supposed to have his back, Marcos! You were supposed to-”

“Supposed to _what_ , Clarice? _Stop him!_ You’ve met the man, right? I couldn’t have stopped him even if I tried!” Marcos’ dark eyes were full of anger and grief, “What was I _supposed_ to do, Clarice? You tell me!”

She opened her mouth and closed it, “I don’t…I…”

Marcos softened his expression, shoulders sagging. “I’m sorry, Clarice.”

She swallowed, “So…so what do we do now?”

He ran a hand down his face, looking from Fade to Hailey. “I don’t know.”

He looked so _tired_ in that moment…so helpless and she couldn’t help but pull him into a tight hug. They hadn’t heard from the Struckers since they’d left and with John missing (she refused to use the word gone), they were the only ones left.

“What do you think they’re doing to him?”

Marcos pulled back, squeezing her shoulders, “Clarice, you can’t go down that path…”

“I can’t help it, Marcos. He’s…I…”

He smiled sadly, “I know. We’ll find him.”

“How? We don’t have another tracker just lying around.”

“No, but maybe we know a group of mutants with considerable resources…”

Fade finally spoke up, “Reeva won’t help you.”

“I’m not talking about Reeva.” He snapped.

Clarice looked over at Marcos, seeing the poorly disguised anguish in his eyes and noticed that Fade seemed to come to same conclusion as well. _Lorna._ “Marcos, do you really think she’ll help…?”

Marcos ran a hand down his face, “They were friends long before I met her.”

“And that’s supposed to make a difference how?”

“There’s no love lost between mutants and Purifiers, Clarice, you know that.” Marcos pursed his lips, glancing at Fade, “She won’t leave him at the mercy of Purifiers simply because he didn’t agree with her on how to handle them.”

“And we’re supposed to get a hold of her how?”

Marcos folded his arms across his chest, turning to the handcuffed man with a calm, resolute tone of voice as he walked over to the table, “Fade here, is going to go back to the Inner Circle and tell her exactly what I told you.”

Fade frowned, “I don’t think…”

He raised a glowing palm, “I think you will, it’s the least you can do after slowing us down.”

“Slowing you down? I got shot!”

“You’re lucky we didn’t leave your traitorous ass behind.” Marcos growled.

“Guys!” She snapped, pulling Marcos back and turning to Fade and this close, she could see the telltale bruising of someone who got the crap beat out of him. _John._ Clarice had no sympathy for the man, but right now, they had few options…

The man’s expression was wary, probably expecting her to take a swing at him.

As much as she wanted to, it wouldn’t change anything, “I know this is asking a lot…”

Marcos muttered something in Spanish that was no doubt antagonistic.

She sighed, reaching into her pocket and pulling out the necklace, “Give that to Hailey.”

“Clarice-”

“It was her mother’s.”

He clenched his jaw, but nodded and walked over to the girl.

She turned back to Fade, not wanting to see any more of that girl’s grief when she was trying to shove down her own. Clarice sat down in the chair perpendicular to him, “I’m not trying to start anything with the Inner Circle, Reeva least of all, but…”

“Then what are you trying to do?”

“I just want John back. That’s it.” She knew she failed to keep the tremor out of her voice and could see that the man had picked up on it as well. Clarice cleared her throat, “You know how bad the Purifiers have gotten. What do you think they’ll do to a leader of a mutant “terrorist organization”?”

Fade looked uncomfortable at the thought.

“Just talk to Lorna, alright? Let her know what’s going on.”

“And if she says no?”

“Then that’s her decision.” Clarice swallowed the bitterness of the words and tried not to think about what the repercussion would be if Lorna said no. How would it change her relationship with Marcos and John if she refused to help? _Would John even survive?_ She shoved that particular thought far, _far_ away… “You know as well as I do no one can _make_ Lorna do anything she doesn’t want to do.”

He sighed.

“Is that a yes or a no?”

“I’ll talk to her…but I can’t promise anything.”

She nodded, before standing and walking over to where Marcos held the teary-eyed Hailey. She sat on his other side, “Fade said he’ll do it.”

“You think he’s telling the truth?”

“Do we really have another choice?” Clarice didn’t want to point out that this whole plan was Marcos’ in the first place. “And besides, it’s like you said…Purifiers are friends to no mutants, whether they’re from the Mutant Underground or Inner Circle.”

Hailey sniffled, clinging to Zingo like a lifeline.

“What about her?” Marcos whispered.

“I’ll take her to Erg.”

“Clarice…”

“She killed someone Marcos and it doesn’t matter if it was done in self-defense. You know no one will see it that way and with her mom gone…” her heart ached in remembrance of a similar pain, “She’ll be safer down there than she’ll ever be up here.”

He looked over at her, “Fine, but I’m coming with you.”

“No argument there. And after that?”

“After that…we wait.”

She just hoped John could hold on until then.


End file.
